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Committee adopts amended access-management ordinance, defers NDOT contract package
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Summary
The committee approved an amended access-management ordinance to align local code with an updated access-management manual and deferred a package of NDOT-related professional-services contracts to coincide with a forthcoming presentation.
The Transportation & Infrastructure Committee adopted an amended ordinance to update access-management provisions in the Metropolitan Code, after the council approved a substitute that incorporates an updated access-management manual and adds an appeals process referencing the Traffic and Parking Commission.
The ordinance (Item 55, BL20-25-1147 as substituted) seeks to compile rules and guidelines for access from private property to public rights of way and to modernize the development-review process with safety-focused standards for intersections, driveways and visibility. Acting special counsel told the committee the substitute revises Title 13 language on obstructing visibility, includes an appeals path for administrative decisions, and replaces the manual with an updated version.
Council member Toombs introduced the substitute and the substitute was approved by voice vote. After questions from Council member Allen about whether limiting access points on arterials would push traffic to secondary streets, NDOT traffic engineer Melissa Hayes said the manual ranks road classifications (arterial, collector, local, alley) and prioritizes access on lower-classified roads; she said the team relied on studies and posted the supporting research on nashville.gov. Hayes added that where a property has frontage only on an arterial, staff will work with owners to find safe solutions and that traffic studies for new developments would examine impacts to nearby streets.
Council members moved and seconded to advance the bill as substituted and the committee approved the substituted ordinance (7–0). The committee also deferred a related package of professional-services contracts (Items 14–43) — which covers dozens of consultant agreements with firms including Gresham Smith, HDR Engineering, Parsons, AECOM, Stantec, WSPUSA and others — to align those contract approvals with the updated NDOT presentation at the next meeting.
The committee recorded that Item 56 and other related items will be considered at the next meeting; sponsors and staff said the deferral was coordinated to ensure council members receive the NDOT presentation prior to voting on the contracts.
What happens next: The council will take up the deferred contract package when staff provide the updated NDOT presentation and will implement the substituted access-management ordinance according to the code-amendment process.
